Muslim nations denounce Israel's new capital punishment legislation

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem on March 19, 2026. (Photo by Ronen Zvulun / POOL / AFP) /

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Islamic nations including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia lambasted Thursday the approval of a death penalty bill for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying the move threatens “regional stability”.

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The statement was released by foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

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“This legislation constitutes a dangerous escalation, particularly given its discriminatory application against Palestinian prisoners, and stressed that such measures risk further exacerbating tensions and undermining regional stability,” the joint statement read.

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Under the law passed by Israel’s parliament late on Monday, Palestinians convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as “acts of terrorism” will face the death penalty.

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The law has been criticised by the United Nations and European Union, while the United States came out in support of “Israel’s sovereign right to determine its own laws”.

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Almost all of the countries which signed the statement enforce the death penalty at home, including Saudi Arabia which executed 356 people alone in 2025.

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Under the new law, Palestinians in the West Bank convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as “terrorism” will face the death penalty as a default sentence.

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Because Palestinians in the territory are automatically tried in Israeli military courts, the measure effectively creates a separate and harsher legal track.

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In Israeli civilian courts, the law allows for either death or life imprisonment for those convicted of killing with intent to harm the state.

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Israel has applied the death penalty only twice: in 1948, shortly after the state’s founding, against a military captain accused of high treason, and then in 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was hanged.

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Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence there has soared since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

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AFP

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